Ascential raises £153.0m via share placing, swings to interim operating profit

Media firm Ascential said on Tuesday that it had raised £153.0m via a share placing as part of an effort to fund its pipeline of acquisitions and also revealed that it had swung to an interim reported operating profit.

Ascential placed 35.5m new ordinary shares in the company, representing approximately 9% of its current issued share capital, at a placing price of 432.0p each, representing a discount of 4.9% to the stock's closing share price on 26 July.

The FTSE 250-listed firm will use part of the placing's proceeds to acquire digital content optimisation business ASR Group for an initial cash consideration of $122.0m, with the group also holding an option to acquire two further 24.5% stakes in the business based on a pre-determined multiple of trailing EBITDA between July 2022 and June 2025.

"Ascential believes there are further opportunities to both expand capabilities and drive greater growth synergies through further acquisitions. The placing will provide Ascential with greater balance sheet flexibility to use its proven M&A playbook and execute on its strong pipeline of attractive, on-strategy target opportunities, predominantly in digital commerce, Ascential's most significant business opportunity," said the group.

Separately, Ascential said on Monday that its interim results had come in ahead of both market and its own expectations, with revenues up from £127.9m to £175.1m, while adjusted underlying earnings of £47.7m were markedly higher than the £11.5m reported at the same time in 2020.

Ascential also swung from an interim operating loss of £75.9m to a reported operating profit of £3.5m.

As of 0905 BST, Ascential shares were down 5.02% at 431.60p.